Letter: Schools need to do more about bullying

Bullying is such a big issue and affects kids from the elementary to the high school level. I am an older sister to a fourth-grader whose school has bullying problems. Through the community I hear and see the effects on these kids. The question is what is being done?

As stated by Ken Rigby in "Bullying in Schools": "It is a quite intolerable social evil; that the consequences are much more greater than we had ever imagined and most importantly, something can and should be done about it." Would it take education? More parental observation? School security? What would be effective?

Hamilton Elementary developed a program to address bullying. The goal of the program is to reduce bullying, prevent it, and to work on better peer relations at school, according to the Glenn Gazette.

Kids are being teased for petty reasons, harassed and made fun of to the point that they go home crying, not wanting to go to school anymore. That leaves parents complaining to the school, yet nothing changes. So everyone is left unhappy, scared, angry, and frustrated at the system.

If you were that kid or that parent, how would you feel? What would need to happen to feel safe?

As we have seen in the news, these kids are taking matters into their own hands and more harm is being done. So now what?